Cats Facts: Green Jobs Mean Big Bucks

Cats, again! This week has been a good run for our favorite companion animals and their accompanying green tidings. (Feel free to debate "favorite" in the comments.) 

From a fluff ball and EVs to a lean kitty and big savings, to a tabby who doesn't give a shale about oil, we've carried the April Fools' fun through to the weekend.

A final word from our feline overlords:

 

Just the facts:

What could shifting funds to greener pastures look like? Instead of building and expanding roads, green jobs include building and expanding mass transit, and increasing existing buildings' energy efficiency. 

Cat Facts: Cycling Is a Lot Cheaper Than Driving

In keeping with Monday's April Fools'-ishness, this week we're sharing eco-facts paired with cats. Yesterday, we looked at oil shale and a tabby with an abundant belly.

Just the facts:

Cycling just makes sense, given the low overhead, the aerobic perks, and the fact that nearly half of all trips, cycling and otherwise, are made within two miles of home.

The thought of getting doored is scary, though, or perhaps you live near a version of Lombard Street and might as well leash your bike and give it a water bowl.  

Fortunately, bicycle commuting increased by 40 percent from 2000 to 2010. Investing in bike-friendly infrastructure, like separating cycling lanes from vehicular traffic with parked cars or posts, should maintain the trend.

Environmental impact aside, money talks. Portland recently spent close to $60 million on cycling infrastructure, the average cost of one mile of urban highway. According to this City of Portland Bureau of Transportation report: "The return on investment has been highest for bicycle transportation."

Essay Contest: What Does Wilderness Mean to You?

Are you a young writer who with a passion for the outdoors? Enter our essay contest for a chance to be featured in Sierra magazine!

The Sierra Club's National Wilderness Essay Contest

It has been nearly 25 years since Bill McKibben declared “the end of nature.” What he really meant was the end of wilderness — the idea of wilderness. In the era of climate change, he claimed, we can no longer conceive of a natural world that is free of human influence — a pristine wilderness where our spirits can awaken to authentic nature.

Generations Y, Z and beyond will never know that pristine wilderness; they will know only what humans have created. And the outlook has only gotten worse: in 2005, Richard Louv warned us that “nature deficit disorder” was on the rise. Today’s children, he worried, spend far more time in front of screens than they spend in the woods, and end up radically disconnected from the natural world. They may care about biodiversity, sustainability, and environmental justice—but do they care about wilderness?

So we pose the question: What does wilderness mean to the millennial generation? Does the idea of wilderness have any relevance for twenty-first century environmentalists? Is there still a case to be made for wilderness? If so, how can we make that case?

We invite essays on the idea of wilderness from writers under 30 years old. Visit the contest website to find more instructions and the entry form.

Green Careers: Environmental Law

Do you have brilliant writing and public speaking skills? A sharp, analytical mind? You might find success as an environmental lawyer. Today, find out what practicing environmental law entails and tips for getting your career started. If you're still not sure which green profession to pursue, make sure to take our quiz. 

Green Careers: Environmental Law

Environmental lawyers focus on litigation dealing with a wide range of concerns, from air and water quality to wildlife protection. They develop policies and engage in lawsuits to prevent environmental damage, compel waste cleanup, tighten regulations, or compensate individuals for harm due to environmental contamination. They're crucial advocates, preventing the government and corporations from engaging in practices that could hurt the environment and local residents. But an environmental attorney might also represent government agencies and businesses by working on environmental impact planning and sustainable growth and development. Cases could involve a builder’s use of toxic paint; a company’s contamination of groundwater used for drinking; or an irrigation system’s harmful impacts on endangered fish species.

Green Careers: Sustainability Consulting

Did you take our green career quiz on Monday? If so, did you score mostly d's? You'll probably excel as a sustainable planning consultant. Read below to learn how to launch a career helping companies both succeed and practice environmental responsibility.

Green Careers: Sustainability Consulting

You don’t need to dirty your hands reporting on an oil spill, tilling an urban vegetable garden, or monitoring Sumatran tiger populations to protect the planet. As a sustainable planning consultant, you can minimize harm to the environment from a corporate conference room. 

Sustainable planning consultants research and implement cost-saving strategies to reduce a company’s environmental impact. They help evaluate sustainable development requirements and create and implement strategies to help companies go green. To do this, a sustainable planning consultant might help a company choose an alternate form of energy, like solar panels, or start an initiative to reduce the company's carbon footprint by 25 percent in five years.

Green Careers: Wildlife Biology

Passionate about protecting animals and their habitats? Curious about different animal species and the complex relationships that make up an ecosystem? You might find your calling as a wildlife biologist. Stay tuned this week for more green career profiles. If you haven’t already, take our quiz to discover which eco-profession could offer the best fit for you.

Green Careers: Wildlife Biology

Wildlife biologists research the characteristics and habitats of animals. Some do primarily office work, but if you’d rather work outdoors, check out field biologist or research biologist positions, which involve studying species’ feeding, mating, and/or social habits in their natural habitats. Fieldwork could also include collecting specimens, which the researcher will take back to a lab. There, he or she might dissect dead animals to understand their anatomy or how parasite might be affecting a wildlife population.  Lab work could also entail data analysis using computer software.

Green Careers: Urban Farming

For Green Lifers seeking to align their career compass, we've dedicated this week to profiling different eco-professions. Yesterday we learned about environmental journalism. If you took our quiz on Monday and scored mostly b's, then read below to learn more about urban farming, your green career fit.

Green Careers: Urban Farming

Urban farmers grow, process, and distribute food in or around a city, allowing its residents easy access to fresh, seasonal produce. Some farmers raise animals, such as chickens or fish. Often found on rooftops, patios, formerly vacant lots, and even indoors, urban farms can play a crucial role in improving food access and food security in underserved neighborhoods with few grocery stores. Farms also add greenery to stark cityscapes; reduce harmful runoff; and help counteract "urban heat islands" —  metropolitan areas that, due to human activity, are significantly warmer than nearby rural communities. Community farms can provide income and build job skills for disadvantaged, at-risk youth.

An urban farmer’s day usually begins early in the morning and could include feeding animals, delivering food to restaurants and caterers, selling food at farmers’ markets, bookkeeping, marketing to potential clients — and of course, watering seedlings, fertilizing, weeding, planting, and harvesting. Some urban farmers are involved in local food justice advocacy and policy, which might involve planning and participating in meetings.

Quiz: Which Green Career is Right for You?

It's never too early or too late to launch a new career. Whether you’re a student stumped about your post-grad future or a professional stuck in a mid-career rut, our green career series will help you find your path. This week, we’ll outline job requirements and highlight training programs and internships that can help you build the skills and network you need to jump-start your career.

Still not sure which professional path to pursue? Take our short quiz to learn which eco-friendly gig might be the best fit for your personality.

Quiz: Which Green Career is Right for You?

1. Close your eyes. Imagine your ideal work environment. What are you doing and how are you dressed?
   a. Backpacking through southern California’s San Jacinto mountains, in full hiking gear, chronicling your trek through a video and blog post.
   b. On a rooftop garden or greenhouse, wearing your trusty jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes, gardening gloves, and sun hat.
   c. Bobbing on a boat out at sea in a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals, studying orca social structure.
   d. In a corporate office advising business executives, wearing a button-down shirt, skirt/slacks, and dress shoes.
   e. In your office, dressed in a smart suit as you write a legal brief for your latest case, this time involving a group of families with asthma caused by a local coal plant.
   
   
2. Quick! Classes are filling up, and you can only squeeze one elective into your schedule next term.  What do you sign up for?
   a. Journalism/communications
   b. Agriculture/botany
   c. Biology/ecology
   d. Business/marketing
   e. Law

App Obsession: Commute Greener!

Whether you live in the spacious, outlying suburbs of Los Angeles or find yourself squeezed in between briefcases and sports coats during rush hour in Manhattan, there's no doubt that every one of us leaves some type of carbon footprint as we travel from home to work. Perhaps the most common is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the vehicles we drive and the taxis we take. The question is -- how much? We should definitely be conscious of the decisions we make during our commute and how it affects our planet. And with the Commute Greener! app, now we can. But smartphone users beware -- this app isn't only for vehicle or phone owners. Whether you utilize public transportation systems, walk, or ride your bike to and from work or school, this application, which is also available on the web, not only gives you an assessment of how green you are, but how you can continuously reduce your carbon footprint and encourage others to participate in the cause.

Ideal and convenient for spreading awareness about how our everyday decisions affect the earth, Commute Greener is a free application that you can download onto your phone as well as sign up for on the web. After creating an account complete with username and password, Commute Greener helps you track and reduce your carbon footprint in the following ways.

DIY 3D Picture Frames: Think Inside the Box!

The old adage goes that a picture is worth a thousand words; but what about the details that are not captured by the shutter button? Perhaps you've saved a map from every National Park you've visited or you've collected pressed leaves and flowers to mark seasons of your backyard organic garden. But if over the years your memory box has slowly turned into six bins filled with sentimental knickknacks that you'd rather not send to the landfill, it's time to breathe them back into vitality! 

Joseph Cornell, an American sculptor and one of the pioneers of box art, assembled amazing pieces of artwork in glass boxed frames, also known as shadow boxes. Inspired by fragments of beautiful and precious objects, Cornell artfully placed bric-a-brac and photographs in boxed frames. You can follow in Cornell's footsteps by creating unique art to preserve memories that photographs can't otherwise bring to three-dimensional life. At the same time, you can also dispel the myth that shadow boxes are only for the display of insects and bugs!

Here's what you will need: